Steve Lockshin
Financial advisor and author
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steve Lockshin is an American financial advisor, entrepreneur and financial author that has focusing on ultra high-net-worth clients and estate planning.[1][2]
Steve Lockshin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 (age 59–60) |
| Occupations | financial advisor, entrepreneur and financial author |
He is a founder of a number of companies, such as Fortigent (formerly Convergent Wealth Advisors and CMS Financial Services) in 1994, Advizent in 2012[3] (which shut down a year later),[4][5] and Advice Period in 2013[6][7] (which was named "Best Wealth Planning Firm" at Family Wealth Report Awards 2019).[8]
He is an early investor in a number of fintech firms, such as Betterment,[9][10][11] Quovo,[12][13] Wealthbox,[14] and Advizr.[15][16] He has appeared widely in the finance and business press,[17] and at conferences in the financial services and fintech industries.[18][19][20] He has served on CNBC's Digital Financial Advisor Council.[21]
Lockshin has criticized the financial services industry for its inherent conflicts of interest,[22] its over-reliance on active investing,[23] its low standards,[24] and its excessive fees.[25][26] (He contends that estate planning and tax planning are much more important for clients.)[27][28] He argues that many investment advisors should not be trusted.[29] He is critical of broker-dealers because they are not required to act in their clients best interests, unlike a registered investment advisor who is a fiduciary.[30][31][32]
Career
Lockshin was CEO for Convergent Wealth Advisors for 18 years (and chairman through 2014),[33] during which time the company became one of the largest RIAs in the industry.[34] In 2011, while he was at Convergent, he was named the "No. 1 Independent Financial Advisor" in the United States by the financial weekly newspaper Barron's.[35] Lockshin resigned as Convergent chairman in 2014, after the suicide of its CEO David Zier.[36]
Awards and Recognitions
Lockshin has been recognized repeatedly by Barron's for his excellence as a financial advisor, including as #1 in California twice and #1 nationally. His awards and recognitions include:
- Barron’s Top Financial Advisors 2013 – State by State (#1 in California)[37]
- Barron’s Top Independent Advisors 2012 (#2 Nationally)[38]
- Barron’s Top Financial Advisors 2012 – State by State (#1 in California)[39]
- Barron’s Top Independent Financial Advisors 2011 (#1 Nationally)[40]
- Barron’s Top Independent Financial Advisors 2010 (#5 Nationally)[41]
- The Wealth Management Industry Award for RIA Thought Leader of the Year for 2019[42]
Writing
Lockshin has written articles for CNBC,[43][44] and writes a regular column in Barron's called The Tech Whisperer.[45][46] He wrote the book Get Wise to Your Advisor,[47] which exposes conflicts of interest in the financial advice industry,[48] and argues that individual investors, even very wealthy ones, are often not well-served by their advisors.[49]
He has made a number of predictions about the future of the financial services industry, including that over the next few years there will be a rapid evolution of fintech,[50] and that this will result an increased focus on and need for "unconflicted advice."[51] He predicts that investment automation will be disruptive,[52][53] making it ever harder for investment advisors to compete with robo advice and AI, and the big financial firms who use them.[54][55] He has said that the financial services industry is having a "Kodak moment,"[56] meaning that much of the industry, and especially individual investment advisors, are ignoring technological changes just like Kodak ignored the photography industry transitioning from film to digital.[57]